Bedburn Beck
Bedburn Beck is a 16.8 kilometres (10.4 mi) long, upper tributary of the River Wear in County Durham, England. The beck and its tributaries, including the Euden, Harthorpe and South Grain becks, have a catchment of 76 square kilometres (29 sq mi), much of which is covered by the coniferous Hamsterley Forest.[1][2][3][4][5] CourseIts headwaters rise on the high ground of Woodland Fell, where it is known as the Spurlswood Beck which flows in an easterly direction through a rocky gill of the same name. It then enters Hamsterley Forest, where it is joined by the Euden Beck and becomes known as the Bedburn Beck.[1] Passing beside the hamlet of Redford before being joined by the Ayhope or South Grain Beck, it then reaches the village of Bedburn where it is bridged by a minor road. Beyond the village it meets the Harthorpe Beck, before descending into the Wear valley between Hamsterley and Witton-le-Wear.[2] HydrologyThe flow of the beck has been measured at a gauging station in its lower reaches at Bedburn since 1959. The catchment to the station of 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi) measures 99% of the total catchment of the beck, and yields an average flow of 1.23 cubic metres per second (43 cu ft/s).[6][7] The highest river level recorded at the station occurred on the 17 July 2009, with a height of 2.31 metres (7 ft 7 in) and a flow of 79 cubic metres per second (2,800 cu ft/s).[8] The catchment has an average annual rainfall of 894 millimetres (35.2 in) and a maximum altitude of 533 metres (1,749 ft) near Pawlaw Pike at the western edge of the basin.[9] Land use within the basin is rural, consisting of moorland, grassland and the coniferous Hamsterley Forest.[9] See alsoReferences
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to Bedburn Beck.
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